Well, that summer went fast!
Todayit’s back to school for me.
Kids don’t report until Wednesday, but I have convocation and staff meetings today and Tuesday.
So, instead of it being 7 am and me being on my deck drinking my morning tea, I’m showered and ready to go and drinking a protein drink for breakfast!
So, on my to-do today is go to work and then muster the enthusiasm to get at least one thing done when I get home!

Crazy day, I’m waiting on my backup camera then we finally start our adventure today! Gonna try to sleep for a couple more hours before finishing the 700000 billion last minute things.
Have a good day everyone!!!

Band camp is officially over. Regular practices resume next week when school starts. No pom practice until then, too. Ahhh the quiet! LOL I feel like I’m forgetting something which means I probably am, but oh well.

Ally has to work on Labor Day. Not fun to work the day before school starts. I have to ask Zach when he works next. Edited to add Ally works all day Sunday, too and Zach works tomorrow.

I’ve got laundry on the line. I can probably bring it in now. It’s not warm out, so might take longer. We’ve had a week of cool weather.

@amyboz Happy first day back! School starts Tuesday here. The kids have a half day in September. ugh Half days are just annoying to me. Although it is on a Friday which makes it better. LOL Then two weeks later they have a full day. Does your area have Feb recess? We did in NY, but do not here. It’s another year of going until the second week of June. It used to be school ended the first week of June. It will be sooner for Zach this year. Seniors are usually done 2 weeks earlier (by May 27th), but have rehearsals,whatnot.

When we arrived at our friend’s house to get tomatoes yesterday, we came away with about 3 5-gallon buckets of tomatoes, a bag of fresh picked peaches, a bag of fresh picked plums and a jar of plum preserves. So today, I am making tomato sauce. It’s simmering now to reduce, and oh, the house smells wonderful! Tomatoes, garlic, basil, onion…

Ally just headed out to get some school supplies with a friend. Zach headed out for a bike ride with one of his friends. I’ll do school supplies shopping later tonight. It will be faster because Ally is getting her own stuff. Miranda needs a lot more than usual. I don’t have a supply list for Matt and that’s frustrating. Some years, elementary school classes don’t need any for class use (only home use for homework/projects) and other years, the list is a mile long. Last year, Miranda’s teacher provided supplies and Matt’s teacher did not. But then Miranda had a ton of home projects and so did Matt. Middle school requires a binder, paper, spiral notebook and tabs for every class. (Plus more, but they are big on the required multiple binders with tabs and spiral notebooks). When I was in school, we could have Trapper Keepers or one binder for all. Those days are gone. LOL I did notice Miranda’s supply list did not include a composition notebook which is always a 6th grade English requirement. So I’m buying a couple anyway because I hate heading back out a week into the school year! I know it seems like it’s just a composition notebook, but it never fails that they need more than what is on the list.

Zach has his own system where he uses multiple binders, but then also uses a file folder to transfer and organize the most important study materials. He had to keep all of his paperwork from last year because he has tests on them this year.

Ally’s binders from last year are in decent condition, but not quite good enough to re-use for Miranda or for herself. They’re being put in one of my cabinets as backups if anyone has a binder break during the year.

ugh One good thing is Miranda has gym this year, but she is not required to have two pairs of sneakers. Matt will only need new gym sneakers because his gym shoes from last year are in good shape to use regularly and we just bought him a pair toward the end of the year, so he has two to change out. Ally will need new sneakers and she will probably want a new pair of Crocs. (Crocs are still popular here at the high school).

I hate how I feel as a new year starts. I am a bundle of nerves. I know everything works out fine. It’s just a combination of so much change and switching to a busier schedule that just gets me feeling like I can’t slow down.

Ally headed out with friends and Zach headed out with a friend. So two gone, two home. Making my school supplies shopping list. I’ll try to get everything that I can tonight, but running late, so there might not be everything that I need. I’ll wing with Matt since we don’t have a list yet.

Gabe was fixing a leaky faucet on the tub. I decided to vacuum. I have a week off from work and think I will do a fall fling. There’s so much to do that I don’t think I’ll ever get done, but I’m going to do my best to purge a lot. I got rid of three bags from the playroom already.

There are way too many shoes that the kids have outgrown. Jackets, coats, papers, papers, papers. I’m still working on clothing and feel like I’ll never finish that. I’ve made a lot of progress, but there’s still so much left.

We’re busting at the seams here and I can’t take it anymore. Every closet, drawer, dresser, etc. It’s definitely time to rent another dumpster and purge. I honestly don’t know how I fill one to two dumpsters (smaller size not full-size) every single year! But every year I’m able to. I wanted to do this sooner, but with the flooding here, I knew the dumpsters were being rented non-stop, so I waited.

When I came home from work, DD16 had completely cleaned her room and had a huge bag of clothes to donate and then a huge bag of trash. I didn’t even tell her to do it! That’s a very nice way to come home. She had also baked cookies. She always does this nesting before school starts. Very strange.

Okay I’ll admit I wish Ally would do that one day soon! She’s all kinds of wonderful, but her room currently has an entire laundry basket of clothes that I have asked her to go through to see if she still wants any of them. I could insist on it, but I’ve been pretty patient because I know she’s enjoying her last few days before school starts and she has to work two of those days.

I do the nesting thing before school starts, so I totally get it! I just want to feel like things are in order, so I can do my best with a clean slate! I always start with organizing clothes and then I like to make sure their little homework supply shelves are stocked and organized. So I gather all the supplies we have all over the place like pens, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, markers, highlighters, glue, etc etc and put them into little bins and get everything all set. I get a little annoyed by how these items travel throughout the house and are never put right back where they belong, but then I try to remember, not one of my kids is like I am when it comes to this sort of thing. I am a bit over the top about it all. However, guess who can happily point and say it’s right there when they need something!!! Then I try to get a game plan on lunches and meals and I feel good to go. I’m a little behind this year and am feeling a little anxious.

Well it’s been a mixed bag of a day. My online class is not going well. The instructor wanted me to redo the last two assignments. So I did. Meant I didn’t get to today’s assignment. I read through the lesson and did the quiz. I got 100%. I can’t figure out how I can get 100% on the quizzes and totally blow the assignments. I obviously understand the material well enough to do well on the quiz. But the assignments seem very awkwardly worded. There’s an assumption the student knows a fair amount of grammar before taking the course. It’s been over 40 years since I studied grammar! Oh well. I have notes to take on today’s lesson, and then the assignment to write. Won’t get to it till Monday probably. I don’t like being that behind in these courses. I think the one other student quit. I didn’t see any assignment from him this last lesson.

DH and I decided to do some errands today. We stopped by an antique store to show pictures of an antique fireplace andiron and grate set, but the owners were away for the long weekend. We came out and drove to Staples for some stuff for me. DH got out of the car and his jaw dropped. Our car had been in a hit and run while we were in the antique store and he hadn’t even noticed. The damage is bad too. Over $2000 worth. We ended up at the car dealership auto body shop, phoning the insurance company. and the insurance company we bought our extended car insurance through (have yet to hear back from them). Then DH took the car to the police station to report it. Not what we had planned for our day. Next week DH has to take it in and get it fixed. It requires a new paint job on that side of the car, which means we’ll be without a car for about a week. Hopefully they’ll provide a loaner.

Sold a bicycle chain lock today.

I decided to create a simple bullet journal today for myself. I’ve done more complicated ones and not been able to keep up with them. I decided to do away with the fancy papers, pens, and stickers, etc. Instead I’m just using an erasable gel pen and a cheap 5" x7" lined scribbler. I have those post-it note bookmarks for helping me find the pages I’m working on at any given point in time. I don’t know if this will work for me, but it’s worth a try. It’s cheaper than the planner that sits by the phone, and it is smaller and easier to carry around. And a whole lot more flexible.

Does anyone else keep a bullet journal? How do you do it?

I phoned a friend tonight. My hair is out of control, my bangs especially. My regular hair dresser is booked till the end of September! I asked my friend if she could trim my bangs for me. I offered to pay her, but she wouldn’t take money. Sigh. So I drove over to her place and she did a wonderful job of it. I’ll have to think of another way to repay her.

We went to the Koodo booth in the mall to have them fix our phone/s. DH was told there was a problem with my iPhone, and that’s why I couldn’t text him in a group, but could as an individual. Well we get there and it becomes obvious fairly quickly the sales guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He said DH’s phone memory was all used so there was no way he could receive a text, and yet he receives them from me all the time…as long as I don’t include anyone else in the group receiving the text. When he got to the part about DH’s phone being old and needing a new phone DH about blew a gasket. He still hadn’t told him what was really wrong.

So, figuring we should have done this a long time ago, I texted my DD who used to work troubleshooting cell phones for various phone companies. She hasn’t worked in the industry for almost ten years, but she’s kept on top of technological advances in that area. She was quick to tell us that the problem was DH’s phone plan. It doesn’t include data. Basic text messages to individuals is sent differently than text messages to a group. Text messages to a group require a data plan. So basically I can’t include DH in any group messages…unless they’re on WiFi and he’s hooked up to it. Didn’t cost a cent and our problem is solved. I’ll just use What’sApp to connect him with the family group. He does need a new cell phone though. He’s currently working with a very old HTC.

Walked to a nearby grocery store so DH could buy some root beer to make his floats.

Checked out the topography of the community we want to move into and discovered most of it is on a flood plain. Not good. I’m checking other places out.

Thanks everyone. We have people checking security cameras to see if anything was caught on video. I imagine the police will too. Mostly it’s the hassle of going through this. Seems if it’s not one thing it’s another with our very red car. I feel like I’m driving around in a target!